Sudan Recent History

Fighting since February 2003 in the west of the country (Darfur region) between government troops and local rebel groups (above all Sudan Liberation Movement / Army, SLM / A, and Justice and Equality Movement, JEM) repeatedly overshadowed the peace efforts for South Sudan. A ceasefire signed in April 2004 was not observed. The situation worsened because at the same time Djandjawid militias (nomads of Arab origin), with the support of the government, systematically expelled or murdered the black African rural population of Darfur (especially Fur, Zaghawa and Massalit). In a resolution at the end of July 2004, the UN Security Council called on the government in Khartoum to disarm the Djandjawid militias and end the violence in Darfur; Otherwise, further UN resolutions threatened sanctions against Sudan. At the initiative of the African Union (AU) and under international pressure, representatives of the Sudanese government and the rebel organizations SLM / A and JEM signed a ceasefire agreement in November 2004 in Abuja (Nigeria) to allow aid organizations access to the crisis region. The peace negotiations, which ended without result in December 2004, were resumed in June 2005. To monitor the Abuja Agreement and to secure humanitarian aid, the AU sent a peacekeeping force that was financially and logistically supported by the European Union and NATO. to give aid organizations access to the crisis region. The peace negotiations, which ended without result in December 2004, were resumed in June 2005. To monitor the Abuja Agreement and to secure humanitarian aid, the AU sent a peacekeeping force that was financially and logistically supported by the European Union and NATO. to give aid organizations access to the crisis region. The peace negotiations, which ended without result in December 2004, were resumed in June 2005. To monitor the Abuja Agreement and to secure humanitarian aid, the AU sent a peacekeeping force that was financially and logistically supported by the European Union and NATO.

At the end of March 2005 the UN Security Council decided that the crimes in the Darfur region that were committed after July 1, 2002 should be prosecuted before the International Criminal Court in The Hague; first investigations into this began in June 2005. On July 5, 2005 in Abuja the Sudanese government and the rebel movements SLM / A and JEM agreed on a basic program for a peaceful solution to the Darfur conflict; however, the fighting could only partially be ended. With the mediation of the African Union, representatives of the Sudanese government and the largest faction within the SLM / A, the most important rebel organization in Darfur, and on June 8, 2006 in Addis Ababa also signed a grouping within the JEM and another, smaller group of the SLM / A signed a peace treaty, which among other things included disarming the rebels and militias as well as a referendum on the future of the region. The fights, v. a. between the various rebel movements, but continued unabated. To monitor the peace process, the UN Security Council decided at the end of August 2006 to send an international peacekeeping force to support or replace the AU units stationed in Darfur. Such a UN force for Darfur was rejected by the Sudanese government. Only technical and personal assistance to the African Union from the United Nations was accepted. In August 2007 the UN Security Council unanimously decided in its resolution 1769 to send a peacekeeping force consisting of soldiers from the AU and the UN.

On December 31, 2007, according to usprivateschoolsfinder, the UNAMID peacekeeping force (abbreviation for United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur) officially began. The JEM Darfur rebels attacked Khartoum on May 10, 2008. It was only after three days of fighting, in which over 200 people were killed, that the army was able to repel the insurgents. The regime responded with a wave of arrests against members of the Zaghawa ethnic group, from which the JEM is recruited. Relations with Chad, which had only been restored by a peace agreement on March 13, 2008, were suspended because Khartoum was given to Chadian President I. Déby – a Zaghawa – accused of supporting the JEM rebels. On March 4, 2009 the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity against President Bashir in connection with the Darfur conflict. In response to the judgment on March 15, 2009, the latter ordered the expulsion of all foreign aid organizations. In April 2009, the state electoral commission postponed the parliamentary and presidential elections until the following year. On January 15, 2010, an agreement was signed with Chad to resolve the conflict in the Darfur / East Chad border region. This was followed by a peace agreement with the rebel group JEM. However, a final stabilization of the conflict region did not succeed.

Sudan Recent History

About the author